Havana Cuba Trader Vics Film

If you haven't already seen this... I think it's amazing. Incredible clothes and hairdos. No idea if this is a modern film or old. Heres the url Or search Havana trader vics on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGfEEY2w-EU

[ Edited by: senoritahollywood 2007-04-12 00:36 ]

That's a clip from "I AM CUBA" which is a pretty amazing film altogether. 60s Communist-Russian propaganda filmed in Spanish, dubbed in Russian, subtitled in English! Visually stunning. That Trader Vic's scene makes me weepy. Being part Cuban myself, it's quite a thrill to see my interests coalesce. There's some earlier discussion about it here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=17933&forum=1&hilite=cuba

By the by, recently scored a Trader Vic's Habana Hilton menu containing a scrawled message from Mr. Bergeron himself wherein he calls Fidel a "dirty stinker" for tying up the rum supply!

Is BIG BRO SVEN back from Cuba yet? I'd love to hear a full report.

I am, and I know people are waiting, but I have to wrap my head around the experience for a while, it turned my world upside down. I love patina and old decaying architecture, and I never thought there could be too much of it for me. But here it has turned from charming to alarming.
And how does it make one feel when the for us all enticing motto "Rum, Rumba and Cigars" is obviously used to mask up the fu%*ed up-ness of of a place, a sad and shocking state, which I had always believed to be reactionary Cuban exile rhetoric? What would one think if tourist buses would line up in front of the Tiki Ti, like they do in front of the La Floridita, for the masses to gobble up sloppily poured Daiquiris? I cry for you Havana, and I mean that.

Let's just say the Havana Trader Vic is alive and well (though weakened) in the form of the Polynesio, here are two teaser pics:

I am planning to write an article for Tiki Magazine about this trip, and will do a separate post here on TC about it, too, but I want it to be right, so I am waiting for it to sink in some more.

H*ly shit!

I cry for Havana as well...and while the Polynesio may have a different name, it looks more like the original TV than the new "modern, nautical" TV's that I've been to. It's a sad state of the world when it takes a communist regime to help keep one of the original poly pop temples in close to historic decor.

Wow! Can't wait to see and read more about it. I had no idea the Havana Trader Vic's was still around. But regarding herding the masses and serving them sloppily poured Daiquiris, isn't that what happens all over the U.S., Tiki Ti and noted others excluded?

On 2007-04-12 04:52, Thunderlips wrote:
By the by, recently scored a Trader Vic's Habana Hilton menu containing a scrawled message from Mr. Bergeron himself wherein he calls Fidel a "dirty stinker" for tying up the rum supply!

I really hate to be a spoiler, but I've seen lots of these supposedly signed menus. I think they were mass produced and sold as souveniers. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?

On 2007-04-12 11:15, GatorRob wrote:
Wow! Can't wait to see and read more about it. I had no idea the Havana Trader Vic's was still around. But regarding herding the masses and serving them sloppily poured Daiquiris, isn't that what happens all over the U.S., Tiki Ti and noted others excluded?

On 2007-04-12 04:52, Thunderlips wrote:
By the by, recently scored a Trader Vic's Habana Hilton menu containing a scrawled message from Mr. Bergeron himself wherein he calls Fidel a "dirty stinker" for tying up the rum supply!

I really hate to be a spoiler, but I've seen lots of these supposedly signed menus. I think they were mass produced and sold as souveniers. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?

It's funny that you mention you have seen a signed menu like that before. Because I have seen a TV Havana menu for sale before with that same inscription! Like, several years ago. So, unless that menu was resold.... Now I'm not saying the menu itself isn't original.

On 2007-04-12 11:29, TheBigT wrote:

On 2007-04-12 11:15, GatorRob wrote:
Wow! Can't wait to see and read more about it. I had no idea the Havana Trader Vic's was still around. But regarding herding the masses and serving them sloppily poured Daiquiris, isn't that what happens all over the U.S., Tiki Ti and noted others excluded?

On 2007-04-12 04:52, Thunderlips wrote:
By the by, recently scored a Trader Vic's Habana Hilton menu containing a scrawled message from Mr. Bergeron himself wherein he calls Fidel a "dirty stinker" for tying up the rum supply!

I really hate to be a spoiler, but I've seen lots of these supposedly signed menus. I think they were mass produced and sold as souveniers. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?

It's funny that you mention you have seen a signed menu like that before. Because I have seen a TV Havana menu for sale before with that same inscription! Like, several years ago. So, unless that menu was resold.... Now I'm not saying the menu itself isn't original.

It is printed that way. I blogged it a bit ago. There is a thread around here on "I am Cuba" as well.

I have itched to go to Cuba via Cancun for years. This makes it even more of an interesting proposition...

[ Edited by: Swanky 2007-04-12 11:41 ]

On 2007-04-12 11:15, GatorRob wrote:
But regarding herding the masses and serving them sloppily poured Daiquiris, isn't that what happens all over the U.S., Tiki Ti and noted others excluded?

Yes, but the Floridita is THE CRADLE of the Daiquiri, that even inspired Trader Vic himself (see the back of Vic's classic 1947 menu) in his mixology.

I really hate to be a spoiler, but I've seen lots of these supposedly signed menus. I think they were mass produced and sold as souveniers. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?

Yes, true, but they seem to be vintage, so it seems the Trader came up with that printed signature idea right after the loss of the Havana Hilton location.

I bought the menu not for the inscription but because, hell, it's a Cuban Trader Vic's menu! Simply mentioned the quote because I find it amusing. I may be a fool for Tiki but I'm no fool!

Big Bro, once again you've commanded our interest. Can't wait to read the article.

I ordered the movie....just for the vintage of decorum and fashion....it looks interesting. I have no desire to go to Cuba, so will live it through the eyes of others. Thanks for starting this thread, checked out the other one on this subject too...so looking forward to getting my DVD. :)

On 2007-04-12 11:46, bigbrotiki wrote:

Yes, but the Floridita is THE CRADLE of the Daiquiri, that even inspired Trader Vic himself (see the back of Vic's classic 1947 menu) in his mixology.

I poured daiquiris at the Floridita for one night only!!! That was a fun night!!

On 2007-04-12 15:51, VampiressRN wrote:
...so looking forward to getting my DVD. :)

I don't want to rain on your parade, but apart from the Trader Vic's and Copacabana scenes, which only constitute about 10 or 15 minutes of the film's running time, you may find the rest extremely difficult to watch. It's full of eye-rolling communist propaganda, and the Russian narrator talks constantly over the Spanish dialogue, so you can't hear what they're saying.

The camerawork, however, is stunning throughout.

Naturally, your mileage may vary.

I'm not expecting a high-quality film, but the filming methodology looked a little interesting to me. Might make as much sense as A Clockwork Orange....avante guard....but what did it mean...LOL. I'll be back with my candid review and let you know how the mileage panned out. :)

I agree that the nightclub scenes are the core of the film,together with the magical beginning approach to the island, cutting straight to the rooftop fashion show and the amazing camera move down to the pool deck and into the pool. Before this film, the director and cameraman had won the 1958 palm d'or at the Cannes Film Festival with their "The Cranes Are Flying", which displays similarly amazing camera work. When I first saw snippets of "I Am Cuba" as reference for a music video job, I thought it was clipped from a contemporary music video, because the wide angle handheld camera work seemed so modern. AND, also, the weird mix of Spanish original sound, Russian commentator voice over that, and American subtitles on top, contributed to that modern Kafka-esque estrangement effect.

Now, after having been to Cuba, it seems even more appropriate: This is what these people have been through, and are the result of, today. A truly Kafka-esque mixture of Spanish colonial, Russian communist, and American capitalist involvement. Cuba is the history of the world of the 20th Century in a nut shell (or nut house!).

Also, when I watched I Am Cuba for the first time, I recognized the hanging bird cage lamps and the table lamps as Trader Vic's decor. I wrote an internet article about it that has been hanging around for a long time (still is?) that made it sound like the club scene was shot AT the Havana Trader Vic's, but it wasn't, it was shot on a sound stage, using parts of its decor as props. I am pretty sure that none of the giant proto-primitive Tikis ever were in the restaurant, unfortunately I could not find anyone that had been around then.

On 2007-04-12 15:13, Thunderlips wrote:
I bought the menu not for the inscription but because, hell, it's a Cuban Trader Vic's menu! Simply mentioned the quote because I find it amusing.

CALLLING THUNDERLIPS! My friend and Urban Archeologist Pete Moruzzi would really like to use that Trader Vic menu with the "Dirty Stinker" inscription in his " Havana Deluxe" book on pre-Castro Cuba (a "Book of Tiki"-style tome on Havana Nightlife and 50s architecture). Or, if anyone else has one, please holler, to arrange for a scan or copy to be sent to Pete! -Mahalo

Dear Donnerlippen, I wanted to remind you of your kind offer to scan and e-mail the menu to Pete, as he is wrapping up his work for the book these days. Vielen Dank